1. Pro-inflammatory cytokine expression and the STAT1/3 pathway in canine chronic enteropathy and intestinal T-cell lymphoma.
- Author
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Kojima K, Chambers JK, Nakashima K, and Uchida K
- Subjects
- Animals, Dogs, Male, Female, Intestinal Mucosa pathology, Intestinal Mucosa metabolism, Intestinal Neoplasms veterinary, Intestinal Neoplasms pathology, Intestinal Neoplasms metabolism, Signal Transduction, Chronic Disease veterinary, Intraepithelial Lymphocytes metabolism, Intraepithelial Lymphocytes immunology, Interferon-gamma metabolism, Intestinal Diseases veterinary, Intestinal Diseases pathology, Intestinal Diseases metabolism, Interleukins metabolism, Dog Diseases pathology, Dog Diseases metabolism, STAT3 Transcription Factor metabolism, STAT1 Transcription Factor metabolism, STAT1 Transcription Factor genetics, Lymphoma, T-Cell veterinary, Lymphoma, T-Cell pathology, Lymphoma, T-Cell metabolism, Cytokines metabolism, Cytokines genetics
- Abstract
The accumulation of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) is a histopathological feature of canine chronic enteropathy (CE), and IELs are considered the cells of origin of intestinal T-cell lymphoma (ITCL). However, the pathogenic mechanism of IEL activation in CE remains unclear. This study hypothesized that the expression of proinflammatory cytokines, associated with cytotoxic T/NK-cell activation, is upregulated in CE and ITCL, and examined the expression of IFN-γ , IL-2 , IL-12p35, IL-12p40 , IL-15 , and IL-21 and the downstream signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) pathway in the duodenal mucosa of dogs without lesions ( n = 11; NC), with IEL
- CE ( n = 19; CE without intraepithelial lymphocytosis), IEL+ CE ( n = 29; CE with intraepithelial lymphocytosis), and with ITCL ( n = 60). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) revealed that IFN-γ and IL-21 were higher in IEL+ CE than in IEL- CE or NC. Western blot revealed upregulation of STAT1 and STAT3 in IEL+ CE. Double-labeling immunohistochemistry revealed a positive correlation between the Ki67 index of CD3+ T-cells and IFN-γ expression levels. Immunohistochemistry revealed a higher ratio of p-STAT1-positive villi in IEL+ CE and ITCL than IEL- CE and NC, which positively correlated with IFN-γ expression levels. Among the 60 ITCL cases, neoplastic lymphocytes were immunopositive for p-STAT1 in 28 cases and p-STAT3 in 29 cases. These results suggest that IFN-γ and IL-21 contribute to the pathogenesis of IEL+ CE, and IFN-γ may be involved in T-cell activation and mucosal injury in CE. STAT1 and STAT3 activation in ITCL cells suggests a role for the upregulation of the STAT pathway in the pathogenesis of ITCL., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.- Published
- 2024
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